Archives

The Dow Has Already Fallen More Than 1000 Points From The Peak Of The Market

By Michael Snyder, on February 3rd, 2014

That didn’t take long. On Monday, the Dow was down another 326 points. Overall, the Dow has now fallen more than 1000 points from the peak of the market (16,588.25) back in late December. This is the first time that we have seen the Dow drop below its 200-day moving average in more than a year, and there are many that believe that this is just the beginning of a major stock market decline. Meanwhile, things are even worse in other parts of the world. For example, the Nikkei is now down about 1700 points from its 2013 high. This is causing havoc all over Asia, and the sharp movement that we have been seeing in the USD/JPY is creating a tremendous amount of anxiety among Forex traders. For those that are not interested in the technical details, what all of this means is that global financial markets are starting to become extremely unstable.

Unfortunately, there does not appear to be much hope on the horizon for investors. In fact, troubling news just continues to pour in from all over the planet. Just consider the following…

If our economic troubles continue to mount, could we be facing a global “financial avalanche” fairly quickly?

That is what some very prominent analysts believe.

Below, I have posted quotes from five men that are greatly respected in the financial world. What they have to say is quite chilling…

#1 Doug Casey: “Now is a very good time to start thinking financially because I’m afraid that this year, in 2014, we’re going to go back into the financial hurricane. We’ve been in the eye of the storm since 2009, but now we’re going to go back into the trailing edge of the storm, and it’s going to be much longer lasting and much worse and much different than what we had in 2008 and 2009.”

#2 Bill Fleckenstein: “The [price-to-earnings ratio] is 16, 17 times earnings,” Fleckenstein said on Tuesday’s episode of “Futures Now.” “Why would you pay 16 times for an S&P company? I don’t care about where rates are, because rates are artificially suppressed. Why isn’t that worth 11 or 12 times? Just by that analysis, you’d be down by a quarter or 30 percent. So there’s a huge amount of downside.”

#3 Egon von Greyerz of Matterhorn Asset Management: “Nothing goes (down) in a straight line, but the emerging market problems will accelerate and it will spread to the very overbought and the very overvalued stock markets and economies in the West.

So stock markets are now starting a secular bear trend which will last for many years, and we could see falls of massive proportions. At the end of this, the wealth that has been created in the last few decades will be destroyed.”

#4 Peter Schiff: “The crisis is imminent,” Schiff said. “I don’t think Obama is going to finish his second term without the bottom dropping out. And stock market investors are oblivious to the problems.”

“We’re broke, Schiff added. “We owe trillions. Look at our budget deficit; look at the debt to GDP ratio, the unfunded liabilities. If we were in the Eurozone, they would kick us out.”

#5 Gerald Celente: “This selloff in the emerging markets, with their currencies going down and their interest rates going up, it’s going to be disastrous and there are going to be riots everywhere…

…So as the decline in their economies accelerates, you are going to see the civil unrest intensify.”

—–

Those that do not believe that we could ever see “civil unrest” on the streets of America should take note of what just happened in Seattle.

If that is how average Americans will behave when something good happens, how will they act when the economy totally collapses and nobody can find work for an extended period of time?

We are rapidly approaching another great financial crisis. Unfortunately, we didn’t learn any of the lessons that we should have learned last time. It is being projected that the debt of the federal government will more than double during the Obama years, the “too big to fail banks” have collectively gotten 37 percent larger over the past five years, and the big banks have become more financially reckless than ever before.

When the next great financial crisis arrives (and without a doubt it is inevitable), millions more Americans will lose their jobs and millions more Americans will lose their homes.

Now is not the time to be buying lots of expensive new toys, going on expensive vacations or piling up lots of debt.

Now is the time to build up an emergency fund and to do whatever you can to get prepared for the great storm that is coming.

As you can see from the financial headlines, time is rapidly running out.

Not me. I pulled out of the stock market last year and spent the proceeds on guns, ammo, food, water, acreage and physical silver. From where I am sitting, I am enjoying the view of the Stawk Market implosion. Burn baby burn.

Rene Girrard

Knowing Obama like everybody should now (relentless liar), I wonder if he won’t print like we are Zimbabwe? Why wouldn’t he?

Eric Quintero

Lets print until we are all millionaires!! Yay!

Steve3

Yes for the prepared both with physical assets and also the correct frame of mind, i feel they will do ok

Mondobeyondo

Get out NOW. Before, not after, it collapses.

davidmpark

Aw, #$%&!!

Got to think for a while on this…

Rodster

China’s situtation is the most chilling because they are currently the world’s #1 trinket producer.

Mondobeyondo

A likely reason why, is because Americans and other foreign consumers have less money to buy cheap plastic Chinese trinkets. Thus, no demand for said trinkets. Chinese economy suffers.

Rodster

I know i’m in the minority and get a lot of flack but when the global ponzi scheme unravels, China will IMPLODE. China are bigger crooks than The Fed and I don’t care how much Gold they have because when the chaos begins, you will have the real Elite players like the BIS/IMF who will swoop in for the kill and grab ultimate control and power by instituting some type of global currency for the so called benefit of the world.

pass the ketchup

Plus they’ve trashed their environment. Just like Japan mother nature will have the last laugh.

Steve3

They will go down but they wont suffer like the west because due to the feds action against gold they have been purchasing cheap bullion and storing it, the collapse will be paper based with hard assets being of value alongside food,shelter etc.they will create a currency backed by gold,the fed has leased all the us gold out, and the western currencies will drop massively as the backing will be non existent

Rodster

I see the world (BIS/IMF) rejecting any one Nation instituting any world reserve currency. I believe the Elite look at what China has done to their economy and banking system and not trusting those guys with a recognized reserve currency backed by gold.

Recently Christine Legarde spoke at a world bank forum and for 2 minutes see spoke in a cryptic manner about the world needs a financial reset and it needs to be a global effort to grow the world’s economy. More globalization.

RealityBetraysUs

That is only short term thinking believing that gold will save your economic ass!The bible warns about the wealthy who place their faith and trust in gold and silver which is corroded1 READ JAMES_5;1-9 Real judgement comes when disasters come that money can not protect you from! ARe you going to eat your gold and silver when people are starving in the streets? Don’t think it can’t happen here in the USA?

Tim

In a recent interview, Paul Craig Roberts said that China has as many people employed in manufacturing as the entire U.S. workforce!

Mondobeyondo

This is more than an American phenomenon, It’s global. Nearly everyone on the planet is gonna feel this, when it does come tumbling down.

But the U.S. is really going to feel the pain, because we have become so accustomed to a high standard of living. If you live in the U.S., your way of life is about to hit a brick wall at 40 miles an hour. It will not be fun.

tony

does this mean I won’t have real limes to put in my corona?

Mondobeyondo

It means you won’t be able to afford a Corona.

davidmpark

Be lucky to afford moonshine…

Malcolm Reynolds

I think I’ve mentioned that I got beer making stuff for Christmas…

Was researching how to distill spirits. Guy on youtube used the ‘4 way mix’ horse feed that is sold at IFA. It has molasses, Corn, barley and Oats in it. He said it makes a delicious shine. I’m interested in trying it. I wonder how much the bag of horse feed costs.

davidmpark

I swear, if it wasn’t for beer, baking bread in the rocky mountains would be next to impossible!

And be really careful with distillation! It’s not just ethanol that comes out. You’d also get methanol, metals, etc. Attach a slobber box, or thump keg to draw most of that out. Also, don’t use your first pint – it has a high concentration of these contaminants. Distilling wines is much safer.

Also, a basic still can run off essential oils and make a host of other needed chemicals. We use ours (yes; I’m LDS and have a distiller – we don’t drink the stuff, though) to run off eucalyptus, mint, and clove oils. Ethanol is used in hundreds of other chemical formulas for everyday use, and used in thousands of processes – very useful stuff!

As for using 4-way horse feed; go for a bag of non-enriched, non-processed feed. The closer to grains-from-the-field the better. The 4-way feed might work, I don’t know. Call up IFA in Draper at 801/571-2091 and ask for a price on code # 1206.

Malcolm Reynolds

Ya ya. thx.
Heads, hearts and tails. The heads are toxic.
One of the things I recently read about was using distillers to make essential oils. That’s super cool. something I never knew about.
Like you, I’m all about reading tech manuals and how-to stuff.

Syrin

There won’t BE Corona.

FirstGarden

Well, they’ll be genetically modified, at best.

MichaelfromTheEconomicCollapse

Yes, “not be fun” is putting it lightly.

Michael

tony

I left my customers house today and the coming collapse really hit me. This elderly man can barely get around, he needs meds daily. How will he make it when these events occur? It upset me a lot.

Ubwart

The simple answer is he will not survive. Unfortunately this will be the case for millions and millions of good people. Bad people will also prey on the helpless and infirm.

Rodster

When you have financial collapses on a large scale like what we are headed towards, it’s typically followed by civil collapse.

Depopulation usually follows and because the World is beholden to central planning instead of growing your own food and feeding your family people will starve and won’t be able to get their medications.

The US if I recall has the highest population in the world who’s on some type of meds.

Syrin

It’s just too bad someone didn’t create a web site about an economic collapse that was coming. How could we have EVER SEEN THIS COMING ?!?!?!

Annette Smith

we are fortunate to have medication for all the ills that man has…it’s the mentally ill that scare me…if they don’t get their meds?

davidmpark

I hear ya, man!

Mondobeyondo

It worries me greatly to see how some of our less fortunate members of society will cope. Please take care of each other, regardless of who or where you are.

Jodi

Tony, this has worried me for a long time. Seniors will suffer the most I fear. Not to mention my kids have their whole life ahead of them. They will also struggle in the years to come. It’s a horrifying feeling.

FirstGarden

I agree. Unfortunately, the ghost of Dr Kevorkian is running Medicare.

Armel

LOL….yes, I second that!! not much left to be said besides what Drudge succinctly told us recently on Twitter….”have an exit strategy.” Lately, those words have never been truer, eh?

Gankfest

It’s gonna be great…

Mondobeyondo

Speak for yourself…

Gankfest

I was!

seth

Wicked satanic talmudic jews along with freemason gentiles seek to destroy the US/UK and establish their one world order with their one world currency and religion. This dates back to babylonian times, from which we have inherited their ursurious fractional banking system and code of laws that are usurping the original laws of the US/UK. THEY ARE THE ENEMY.

TheWatchman

Do you have a high school diploma?

seth

Yep, I have 2 degrees and speak several languages, and know people like that in high society. My comment has been deleted, obviously because we no longer live in a society with freedom of speech.

James Vaughan

Are you sure that’s not “at 60 miles an hour”?

callmecordelia1

And barely a peep from the MSM. I saw a little tiny headline that said the Dow was down a little today. But nothing to worry about. Carry on.

callmecordelia1

Ok, I take that back. Now it’s a big headline! They must be reading your blog, Michael!

MichaelfromTheEconomicCollapse

I hope they are reading it.

Michael

DownWithLibs

Michael – I know from before that you were concerned about repeating your self in these articles. Feel free to! I have been posting as much as I can to Twitter, even the older articles that are still relevant. You can only post an article once, and people really need to see this info.
Thanks

Jodi

But as usual this morning, my local news is still laughing & having a blast even though the world is burning. Carry on folks, nothing to see here.

rat28

I believe the market will recover strongly once Janet Yellen works her magic!!

Steve3

A joke right?

Citizen X19

Don’t panic. The control freaks at The Fed will step in if necessary to rescue Wall Street. They won’t allow the market to fall too far. The elite class has nothing to worry about.

Mike Smithy

Not necessarily. I think that most of us can agree that this artificial levitation of the stawk market by the Central Banksters was designed to lure the sheeple/bag holders into thinking that the market was safe to investors since the 2008 crisis. Commercial banks used this artificial fiat liquidity to artificially pump stock values and manipulate PM’s lower. There plan has always been to achieve a coordinated collapse when the time was right to encapsulate the wealth of the 1%’ers. It is entirely possible that Janet Yellen’s mission is to not come to the rescue as this thing starts to implode.

Steve3

Good analysis , could be on the button

Mondobeyondo

NOOOOOO!!!
Not that button! Not that bright red button… please don’t press that one!!!

Eric Quintero

Notice how all the Old White Men replaced themselves with Women and a Black president.

Now when it goes down they can pull both the race and gender cards and blame it on perceived inferiority.

3gary3

Thought he was half white?

Gay Veteran

bilge

Mondobeyondo

The only reason the Dow Wow Wow has been as high as it has been, is because of QE1, QE2 and QE-whatever it is now. Print more money, and more money. We are following the Weimar Example. Got a wheelbarrow ready?

Steve3

Sorry but they cannot keep doing this, nature is now taking control and nothing will stop self correcting from artificial prop ups

Drud

Yes, Steve. Far too many people seem to think of the Powers That Be as some sort of superhuman, diabolical masterminds and that simply is not the case. They are very human and they are junkies. They thrive on money and power and need more and more everyday. They can’t stop themselves from their games even if they wanted too. Yes, they wield tremendous power, but they they still need food, water and shelter like everyone else, and what’s more they need us, we do NOT need them. Without the consent (typically through simple apathy) of the masses they have nothing. No wealth, no power, no useful skills. All they really no how to do is manipulate numbers and manipulate people. They will fall, that is beyond any doubt, it’s just how much damage will they do on their way down?

SpunkyBunks

You are right. With the creation of MyRA (mandatory retirement accounts for the “middle class” being pimped out by Obama), the elites will just sell their stocks/bonds to the middle class (forced buyers) before the SHTF.

All new taxes and bonds will be forcibly purchased and paid for by the middle class. These new laws, Obamacare and MyRA, are new taxes on the middle class, easily thwarted by the rich.

Mondobeyondo

Doug Casey is right. We are in the eye of a financial Hurricane Katrina. We made it through the first part of the storm, and we’re now in the eye. Things look calm to most people. But if you’ve ever been in a hurricane and had the eye of the storm pass over you, you know that the calm is only an illusion.

The second part of the storm is rapidly coming on. The winds and rains will be more intense than ever. You’d better get ready.

Douglas M. Green

It appears we are going out of the eye into the back wall and this will be much worse than 2008/2009. More than anything, I fear a derivatives blow up from the emerging markets that can lead to cascading defaults before our stock market reaches the 20% bear market threshold. I am highly suspicious of bail-ins when our banks get into trouble with derivatives – and that can happen out of the blue.

Mondobeyondo

Yes, we are.And it will be worse than 2008. Most people are unprepared. When the back side of the storm hits, we are all going to get slammed. But the ones who are either unprepared, or ignored the warnings – well… good luck!

jonno

The old saying,” a recession is when your friend loses their job, a depression is when you lose your job” , is correct. The rest of the world is not collapsing, sure Europe is a mess but they always get by. Oceania and Asia are booming, we will feel the effects when the USA bellyflops, but we will get by. At least America will have to close down most of it’s overseas bases, the military will then come home, that should be great, tens of thousands of psycotic soldiers wandering the streets. Have fun.

K

About a week ago, I said, and so it begins. So today I will say, and so it continues. Superbowl is over, but do not worry the olympics will keep the 80% distracted. Between the economy, the severity of the winter, and the quickly rising heating costs. If you do not see the storm clouds forming. Then I do not know any words to explain it to you. For those of you who have prepared to the degree you can, well done.

greyprepper

Don’t you mean “90%”? Gosh but I hope you’re right, it does seem like more people are waking up.

Bill

It is not the beginning any more.

markohio

This is going to be a wave no one wants to be on. Hold on tight folks! Those who have heeded the warnings, this is not a shock. Thank you Michael for the fantastic articles. Keep up the great work.

Joe Smith

The Kress Cyle points to 2014 for a market crash. I’m starting to believe it.

Mondobeyondo

One more time, class:

– The American economy is 70% consumer driven.
– The American consumer is tapped out. He/she is getting by on credit cards, debit cards, payday loans, pawn shops, auto title loans…
– There is just a whisper of a manufacturing base left in this country. Most job “growth” is in retail, health care and customer service. These are low wage jobs that pay barely enough for your daily bread, never mind a mortgage.
– There is no way this country can ever recover economically without a firm, sound manufacturing base. Burger King won’t cut it. Sears – not good enough (matter of fact, they’re dying).
– Technology and IT could help – except we sold that off to China and Japan. We used to make the stuff that they now make.

In short, there is no “recovery”.

piccadillybabe

Even though you may not be a proponent of Cannabis, it just may be a good industry for our country as it has medicinal benefits as well as industrial . Hemp is a good substitute for the paper industry also.

Annette Smith

find a way to manufacture something.

davidmpark

Alright. The only viable answer to this is to downsize government. 80% layoffs across the board in ALL federal departments – excluding military. No pensions; no severance packages; no benefits – just a pink slip and a boot out the door.

The power base should then be shifted from national and international back to local. State, County, City, and Local govs must also take their lumps with layoffs and budget cuts. Law enforcement must go back to the old Sheriff/Posse backed by state militia system for a while. Looks like the roads, utilities, and such will need to paid for with fundraisers and neighbors working together, again.

All governments must open up the raw resources to auction on local markets to locals and local businesses only. Exports done on the old homesteading system – with unsold surplus only. Folks must also have the right to grow, build, and sell from their own property again without restrictions; many said two articles ago that it would lead to poisoned foods. If you can’t tell what’s what – then go retake elementary chemistry, and grow up! We need to get America running again.

And for goodness sakes, politico’s: knock it off with the unimportant stuff! Gay marriage, legalizing pedophilia, polygamy, marijuana, amnesty for breaking immigration laws, and such is NOT important right now! Those debates can resume after several millions of US citizens are not starving and there’s work and homes again to stabilize those families! We are dying out here!! Screw the unimportant stuff and fix the real problems; or quit! Politicians are easily replaced by anyone who knows their elbow from their #$% and can add two and two!

There’s a lot more that can be done; just this is the most expedient.

Jim Davis

Why exclude the military? We do not need a gigantic military when we are protected by two oceans.

kfilly

We also don’t need military bases all around the globe and serve as the glibal cops.

davidmpark

You’re right; we don’t. Bring ‘em home.

Eric Quintero

Amen. We’ve been constructing a missile defense system along the Russian border for a while now.

Russia’s response?

First, one of their top generals warned us not to do anything stupid, because they would retaliate with nukes.

Then….
They revealed their latest weapon: a nuclear sub that is invisible to radar and brought it 15 miles off our coast totally undetected.

I think its time we settle down and stop trying to kill each other.

davidmpark

The Russians may have the weapons, but they also have a problem of their population collapsing.

I think we should bring our troops home if they’re just going to die needlessly (especially since this government proved they will). The missile shield is better served here. Especially after that missile fired off the California coast several months back.

davidmpark

That’s no guarantee of safety and never was. We need a military until the State Militia’s can be reinstated.

kenfrombayside

Up to 30 million diseased, low IQ, unskilled, fertile, non-English speaking and violence prone mestizos have invaded the US with little or no resistance. Those that speak out are labeled “racist.” So, if a foreign army lands on US soil, expect little resistance.

Gay Veteran

and we can do all that with a Pentagon 80% smaller than it is now

Adrian

You must still think the people actually have some influence in what the government does.

davidmpark

Yes, we do. All we need to do is act like it.

Adrian

That is the problem. A hundred years ago PR masters Eddie Bernays and Walt Lippman won the war over the human mind and perfected the art of propaganda. Now to distract the children/public all that needs to be done is a story about a celeb and/or a few Super bowl commercials, and the real news is forgotten. It’s kind of like quieting a crying baby with a pacifier.

davidmpark

There comes a time when they must learn their lessons the hard way. But, I don’t want to give up just yet.

Adrian

Since nobody seemed to learn their lessons from 2008 and what mass deregulation and ultra laissez faire capitalism brought us, I’m, not holding my breath. A common theme on this blog is the big one is coming because steps have not been taken to fix the problems, and things are getting worse. I just think it’s funny how so many fail to recognize that Obama is just another corporate hack like most of his predecessors were, and the media is able to fool the public into thinking he’s some raving socialist out to collectivize everything, lol. You see how well the propaganda system works in creating distractions…the people eat it up like popcorn.

Malcolm Reynolds

“what mass deregulation and ultra laissez faire capitalism ”

Fantasy

Adrian

Really? Wow, I figured I was dealing with someone who was at least informed…go back and look at the government studies of what caused the 2008 crisis. Along with numerous factors, deregulation was the consensus of nearly all serious analysts.

Malcolm Reynolds

LOL! Only left wing mouth breather analysis that, of course, immediately discounts the real govt sponsored reasons. Cant have you people questioning the paradigm, now can we.

Adrian

I’m not convinced by ‘lol’. Show me where I’m wrong with independent evidence.

You can find evidence of this on mainstream news, independent news, international news. etc. I thought this was more or less common knowledge at this point….

Adrian

Oh boy…and what led to the ability to initiate and package those subprime mortgages??? DEREGULATION!!

Gay Veteran

oh yeah, like there wasn’t any FRAUD committed by the banksters

Adrian

I posted a link from the economist, awaiting moderation. Interestingly, they mention deregulation as one of the main causes, just like I’d said to you earlier. You don’t have to wait for this to clear moderation: go to Google and type in causes of 2008 economic crisis and there are a lot of credible sites and studies where you can further inform yourself.

Malcolm Reynolds

Like I said. “immediately discounts the real sponsored reasons”

Why did Lehman collapse? I’m sure hyper regulation of forced sub-prime mortgages and mortgage backed securities had nothing to do with it.

You leftists are really good at discounting reality and substituting your own.

*yawn*

Adrian

Yawn is right; you haven’t a CLUE as to what you’re talking about. What’s even more inane, is you refuse to even look at evidence someone has presented to educate you. YAWN is right. You can lead a horse to water…but you can’t make an ideologue think.

Gay Veteran

WHAT forced mortgages?

Malcolm Reynolds

Hey, your “i’m not a left winger” is hanging out again.
LMAO!

Gay Veteran

yeah, you like to watch things hanging out

Gay Veteran

there is plenty of evidence of the MASSIVE fraud that was committed by the banksters

Malcolm Reynolds

And waaaaaaaay down there at the bottom of the stack of problems was what Einstein?

Gay Veteran

Community Reinvestment Act, the favorite boogie man of the right-winger.

Odd how all those financial institutions that were NOT covered by the Community Reinvestment Act were pumping fraudulent mortgages also.
Read some Karl Denninger (one of the founders of the Tea Party movement) and educate yourself about the massive fraud committed by the banksters

Malcolm Reynolds

LOL. Thanks for playing dolt

Gay Veteran

yet again you are incapable of rebutting an argument

Gay Veteran

fascism = merger of state AND corporate power

Malcolm Reynolds

Um, ok. No one disputed that. Why doncha wait until all the info soaks into your Pentium II mind and it has the chance to catch up before you comment.

Gay Veteran

awwww, troll trying to be witty

Malcolm Reynolds

Awww stupid lawyer still isn’t skilled enough to know the definition of terms.

Gay Veteran

I know the definition of moron (see Malcolm Reynolds)

Malcolm Reynolds

lol, the I know you are but what am I defense. Witty, you aint.

Adrian

Nah, if I’d fallen for Lippman I wouldn’t even be having a political discussion. Kind of hard to argue we haven’t been trying supply side economics since Reagan, then hard core again after Bush. Far from working, it has increased income inequality. Taxes are at the lowest point since the 1920s, most corporations pay no income taxes….that’s the kind of laissez faire capitalism to which I was referring.

Malcolm Reynolds

Thanks. I’m not debating bull shizzle left wing talking points. You are utterly uninformed and completely duped. hey, I think I heard Gary calling you

Adrian

Yes, I wouldn’t debate me, either.

Malcolm Reynolds

Ya, it’s a waste of time debating idiotic talking points.

Adrian

And yet I’m the only one posting evidence from the Economist website on causes of the crisis, which support my argument, and all we get from you is ad hominems and no evidence. Facts speak for themselves.

FirstGarden

That was funny.. even if I don’t agree with you.

Gay Veteran

in other you can’t rebut the argument, typical

Malcolm Reynolds

Nah, I rebutted. He whined and then went off on a tangent not making any sense.

Gay Veteran

not making any sense? sure you weren’t reading your own post

Drud

No NO NO NO! We DO NOT and HAVE NOT had laissez faire capitalism in this country for decade, perhaps a century. None of this could possibly have happened in a true free market. We have crony capitalism/corporate fascism and that has brought us here. The huge lie is to blame capitalism when it no longer exists.

Eric Quintero

Thank you Drud. I was about to say the same thing.

Where is the Lassez Faire?

Do you even know what happened in 2008???

Adrian

Ok, well it exists, but in altered form. True, I think it is fascism light. Have you read Sheldon Wolin’s Democracy Incorporated? You can’t deny that the laws and tax cuts favor the rich and the corporations. That’s what gets me about others who claim we have socialism, lol. I know you are not arguing this, but others here do often. This blog has a mixed bag of folks.

Drud

Why would I deny the very point I was making? of course, the laws and tax cuts favor the rich and the corporations, almost exclusively. That’s just it: we have WAY too many laws and WAY too many taxes and virtually all of them benefit the rich and the corporations and, in fact, are written by the corporate lawyers and enacted by the corporate puppets masquerading as lawmakers. So, I ask again, where is the lassez faire? Where is the capitalism? Where are the free markets?

Rene Girrard

DavidPark is you say morality doesn’t matter then Christianity doesn’t matter either. You are very wrong.

davidmpark

What?

FirstGarden

Speakest thou of Royalty in such manner?
Off with his head!

davidmpark

Give me liberty – or give me death!!!

FirstGarden

I heartily concur.

davidmpark

Ah, he speaks the King’s English!

FirstGarden

Aye, but he dwells not with royalty but with the commoners, matey.

FirstGarden

Aye, but he maketh not his home with royalty, but with the commoners, matey.

Gay Veteran

the bloated Pentagon can be cut by 80%

davidmpark

So long as it’s the foreign aid.

Gay Veteran

no, we can make massive cuts in the military period.

davidmpark

The foreign aid comes to about 73% of the military budget. All we need is to defend ourselves ’til we replace the leadership, get back on our feet, and pay off the debt. The rest of the military is alright.

Gay Veteran

73%?!?!?!? proof please

davidmpark

Check the military budget office reports from 1980 – present on Dept of Defense; you’ll need to lump in USAID and other such groups with it.

Gay Veteran

I certainly have no problem with cutting 73%!

A Dodgy Bloke

I agree with Egon Von Greyerz of Matterhorn Asset Management. The emerging markets are the ones to watch. None of the EM’s has any backstop like the EU every EM is on their own. I think it to early to say for sure this is the bomb going off. I think the next week or two will be critical.

midwestprepper

Now the Dow.Doesn’t surprise me one bit.I jumped ship from the stock mat the end of 2011 and used the money to get the hell out of debt.Good thing too-I lost my job as a tool and diemaker last November,and using my preps to get by.Celente,Schiff,andMarc Faber are right on target.

Eric Quintero

Im a door to door canvasser for Andersen Windows here on the north side of Chicago. Im very fortunate to be working for this multi-billion dollar company right now.

Going door-to-door and trying to sell expensive windows in this economy always leaves me with an internal conflict. However, I justify doing what I do by telling myself, “they are sheep,” and its their fault for not being informed. Yet still. I feel bad knowing whats coming.

I talk to a lot of people. Ive probably spoken to about 3-4 thousand homeowners since I started.

The north shore where the Jews live is A-Okay! This is worrisome, considering I have many Jewish friends and I fear for their safety if a class/race war breaks out. (Not all Jews are rich, and not all of them are evil. But they sure as hell are motivated to be successful).

$100K cars EVERYWHERE. New high end grocery stores going up. New fancy retail shops keep popping up. The Tesla dealership is sold out and on is back order for their $120k electric car.

The indoor malls are dying, but much of that business has transferred over to the upscale outdoor malls.

There is so much STUFF here. So many cars and money. New buildings, new construction. Two Million Dollar homes around the North Shore sell almost instantaneously!

HOWEVER, the south side is looking more and more like Detroit everyday. And the surrounding western suburbs have been struggling since the housing market crash in 08. The city has been expanding westward for a couple decades now. And most people who live out there are in the trades or construction. Its bad out there.

I walked through a neighborhood a few months ago where 50% of the people I spoke to told me either that “I was very lucky to have a job”
or they told me “I dont have any money, Ive been out of work for months.” Walking through that neighborhood was a real wake up call. There are communities that are really suffering and there are those that are really prospering. Michael is totally right about the “TWO AMERICAS.”

Unfortunately, where Im located the two Americas are stacked right on top of eachother. The very affluent north side sitting on top of the very very impoverished south side….

So, all of us here on the north side are essentially sitting on a massive powder keg. If food stamps go, and rioting begins, we most likely will see it flood its way up here into the more affluent areas.

I went to the gun store last Sunday. HUGE PARKING LOT. Almost couldnt find a spot….I had to circle the lot twice..

At least people are getting ready.

Rene Girrard

Nice info thanks. I heard the hookers and drugs are on the west side?

Eric Quintero

Lol the drugs are literally EVERYWHERE now. I went to a very affluent neighborhood about two months ago. 4000-6000 sq ft homes. A 16 or 17 year old kid opened the door.

He was clearly f*cked up. He tried handing me a credit card. I told him, while holding my clipboard and pen, “Im not the pizza guy.”

Heroin. Everywhere.

Ive lost several classmates to the drug now. And my buddies in the Marine Corps are over in Afghanistan making sure that the fields dont burn down. Cuz thats against SOPs.

The excuse? “The locals need the cash crop to survive. We need to win hearts and minds. We cant burn their fields until the poppy plants are actually turned into drugs.”

However, I did get to see on video a HIMARS rocket blowing up a truck full of heroin….

You know, cuz thats OBVIOUSLY cheaper than setting a flame to a field.

misterioso

“(Not all Jews are rich, and not all of them are evil. But they sure as hell are motivated to be successful).” You must not be Jewish.

Eric Quintero

I live amongst them. They’re an interesting breed. Thats for sure.

ItIsWell

Except for my home (rent to own) I am now debt free. It feels so good! My husband lost his job in 2008 and the Christian school I taught at quit paying teachers. Everything is good now but since that horrible time in my life I have been working on freeing us from debt. I also have been working on a nice food pantry to help us if those hard times ever come again.

Backdoor Barry

Tax gary more and give his money to me. He’s greedy and doesn’t need it.

davidmpark

Very funny!

Tatiana Covington

It’s probably just profit-taking and statistical noise in the fractal sense.

k

Usually when dow falls, i often feel the same…but a 1000 point fall means it could sometimes be somethin else….. i guess time will tell what it really means accurately.

Mike Smithy

Make no mistake, the stawk market is in bubble territory. Despite the fact that Fed hawks such as Fischer have the balls to say otherwise. On a monthly chart, the S&P500 has been above one standard deviation (2 yr periods) for over one year. This has only happened one other time in the past 33 years. In 1996, when it lasted a few months more and was the biggest bubble since the 1920’s. Even then, the stawk market fell 15%. Need more evidence?
What about small caps that have almost doubled over the past 2 years? Not even in the late 1990’s did they manage to do this (when the world had much, much less debt and leverage). Small caps are almost 3 standard deviations above their 3 year mean. Need more evidence?
What about the consumer discretionary sector? Up almost 4 fold since 2009. Delta Airlines going from $9to $32 in a year. Best But(Worst Buy) going from $12 to $44 in a year. Even Johnson & Johnson, up 60% since its peak in 2008, even-though their sales are approximately the same as they were back then. No, No Bubble here.

2Gary2

“Today’s plutocrats have no idea what it means to face a real class warrior.”

Joseph Thorndike, tax historian, Forbes, January 30, 2014

You have to add up the take-homes of 300,000 American school teachers, as economist Paul Krugman observed last week, to equal the annual compensation of America’s 40 top-paid hedge fund managers.

Tax the rich HARD and spread the wealth!

davidmpark

We don’t have any more rich; your side cannibalized them all.

2Gary2

your kidding right?

davidmpark

Define “rich”.

Is it above $250,000 a year? Is it Fortune 500 and yacht owners… if that’s it, then yes. Many have fled the US already, and many more are hiding their money from you and your ilk.

Or, is the “rich” anyone with anything you want – no matter how impoverished and afflicted. Demanding that your mommy and daddy in office steal it for you.

Or are is the term “rich” a pseudonym for “human”. Whom you compete for handouts and crumbs from your God dictator’s tables. Not enough to go around, right?

And how would you define “wealth”? Is it only money? What about their labors? What about their precious vital organs? Their attractive family members? What is “wealth”? Anything that you crave.

So, yes. I’m serious. Get mental help.

2Gary2

look at the irs tax tables and who fits into the top 10%. that would be rich.

Gay Veteran

the rich in this country have bought the government

davidmpark

The radicals and posers are pretending they own it. All we need to do is act our part as citizens.

Gay Veteran

we don’t have any more rich? have you been to Wall Street?!?!?!?

davidmpark

Yes, I have. And to the Chicago Exchange, the Capitol Mall, many interesting parties in my youth… and I can say that the “rich” as previously known are gone.

The guys on K Street and such are not rich when it’s bailouts and welfare. Pearls cast before swine.

Gay Veteran

interesting, because the top 0.1% in this country are making out like bandits (which a lot of them are)

Malcolm Reynolds

Teacher says, every time Gary says spread the wealth, a one trick pony gets it’s wings.

How can we be sure this downturn will lead to the collapse you guys are predicting? What caused it, and why do you think it won’t turn around?

davidmpark

I’d answer that, but do want to hear it?

Adrian

I would love to.

davidmpark

Quick answer: is the international community’s gold reserves still housed in the Federal Reserve? No. Where is it? We don’t know. Does the QE’s and Obama’s sparkle still instill confidence and trust in the markets without the assets to prove it? No – that’s what’s causing this. Will it lead to a “big one”? No, a collapse comes in waves most of the time. Only a massive natural disaster, nationwide pandemic, or multiple nuclear attacks can do that.

Adrian

Yes, I agree this comes in waves, and that seems to be happening. Clearly the problems from 2008 have not been addressed, and clearly the system is unsustainable. However, the gist of the article seems to be: this is it, the start of the big one. I was simply asking how ppl could be so sure that in a week or less this won’t reverse itself and the party horns start blowing again.

davidmpark

One does get that sense…

Adrian

Do you read any of Chris Hedges’s stuff? He is convinced, as he says, that “something’s coming”, and thinks something minor and seemingly insignificant will set it all off, in a cascade effect.

davidmpark

I don’t read his stuff. I don’t get around to reading most of those other guys either. Most of what I read are technical manuals and how-to books on varied subjects.

Malcolm Reynolds

You wont like him. I only got thru one article. Dude is hook line and sinker globull warmist and seems like a lefty loon.

davidmpark

Thanks, mate!

Malcolm Reynolds

Yup.
Oh, just an FYI so you know who you’re dealing with. Go check the up votes on Gary’s redistribute the wealth comment. Adrian is one of them.

davidmpark

No surprise.

Gay Veteran

that’s right, only read what supports what you already believe

Malcolm Reynolds

Yikes! On your recommendation I went to check him out. Dude is a collectivist and his followers seem to be serious loons.
Sorry, our problems will not be solved with further central planning and collectivization. Our problems are exactly because of collectivization and central planning.

Adrian

A collectivist?? What website have you gone to? LOL. Hedges went to seminary school before becoming a war correspondent during the 80s and 90s. He lost his job at the NY Times for giving an anti-war speech at Rockford college about Iraq in 2005 (seems he’s kind of been vindicated now; shows you just how “liberal” the NYT is, huh?). He’s now a columnist, not to be confused with Communist…maybe that’s where you were confused?

Malcolm Reynolds

I’m sorry, seminary school precludes one from being a collectivist?
BWAAHAHAHAHHA.

Perhaps you should seek out that far left nutbag Jim Wallis.

Dude, I read what the man said and what his followers were saying in the comments. l.e.f.t.i.s.t

Adrian

Yeah, he’s a leftist and a socialist, which is different from being a Communist. We hear from the extreme right every day (Hannity, Limbaugh, Beck, etc.)what’s wrong with having some variety of viewpoints?

Malcolm Reynolds

“extreme right”
*snore*

Adrian

Go back to sleep.

Malcolm Reynolds

Can I snuggle up there next you in dream land?

Guest

Government works best when its applied like make up: Just a little bit to cover up the small blemishes. Small and limited. Such is beauty.

What we have now is the face of a painted whore. We are the modern Babylon.

The left just wants the mommy state to take care of things. Unfortunately, mommy enjoys spreading her legs for money.

Malcolm Reynolds

Well said!

FirstGarden

Adrian, I know I’m late in joining the discussion, but your question is dead on..
“What’s wrong with having some variety of viewpoints?”

Here’s what’s wrong with that: Statism is intolerant of dissenting voices. The right to dissent/freedom of speech are among our most cherished values as Americans. Yet we see that slipping away thru our fingers, year by year.

As the late historian Francis Schaeffer said, “When society departs from absolutes, society becomes absolute.”
(From “How Should We Then Live? – The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture”)

The point is, a nation in decline, morally, spiritually – drifts away from INTERNAL individualized self-G o v t, and turns increasingly to EXTERNAL regulations, restraints and controls. The extreme of this is a police state, a surveillant society, martial law, and so forth.

In this world, free speech becomes “hate crimes”, as ministers are hauled off to jail and Church & Synagogue are driven underground. (Excepting those State-infiltrated and controlled.)

P.C. rules the day, and all those resistant are deemed enemies of the State, some more, some less. The M a i n C o r e are rounded up and taken to “special places.”

This has long been commonplace in other countries, and down the corridors of history. Was it Frank Zappa who said, “It Can’t Happen Here”?

We are more than straightlining, or trending in the same direction, and all the brakes are wearing thin. Now our nation seems little more than a free-for-all of systemic looting and money-grabbing. Soon you will see it in the streets.

So, “What’s wrong with having some variety of viewpoints?”

Plenty, if you believe in Statism.

Malcolm Reynolds

He’s arguing that point from the statist side….

Mike Smithy

Very well stated.

Adrian

First, where does this assumption of statism come in? To whom are you referring? Second, hedges is all about supporting those freedoms you mention, so, again, not sure where you are coming from…

FirstGarden

That’s the funny thing about Indies. They have friends on all points of the ideological spectrum. And are not always easy to understand. That’s because I take things issue by issue, rather than buy into entire packages. It can seem a little confusing.

As for State-ism, I was simply pointing out that it is on the opposite end of the spectrum from that of Individualized self-government. Taken to it’s extreme, of course, it leads to Marxism and totalitarian control.

Atheism and materialism are said to be the twin evils there. On the other side, non-compassionate use of accumulated wealth is destructive to society, for instance, when trickle-down becomes trickle-sideways, and all the jobs are going overseas. Excessive work hours and bad working conditions are another example; thus the original concept of unions as a check and balance. However, they are not from a superior stock of humankind either, so you have greed against greed, or Mad vs. Mad, as it were.

The problem is not that money matters, cuz it does. The problem is when money is ALL that matters.

Back to the point, as civil society “progresses” toward this totalitarian condition, due to internal, moral breakdown, concepts like diversity, right to dissent and freedom of speech become intolerable, because of the ever-increasing need to keep order, and to placate the fears of insecure leaders.

I wasn’t referring Hedges, or any such sight. Sorry, I guess I missed that part of the conversation.
Kind regards.

Adrian

Sinclair Lewis wrote a book “It Can’t Happen Here” and showed how it easily could.

FirstGarden

Gay Veteran

at least Chris Hedges is anti-empire, anti-bankster

Malcolm Reynolds

Oh. Wrong about everything philosophically, but at least…
You really have to stop lying about who you are.
Just come out and say it. You’re HARD left.

Gay Veteran

oh, I forgot, anyone to the left of you is HARD left.
gee, wonder why I read ZeroHedge and Karl Denninger?

Malcolm Reynolds

Nah but people like you who wear mediocrity like a badge of honor and spout non-stop left wing talking points and dribble are. Gee, I read thru Politico, Huff Po, mediaite and CNN, that doesn’t make me a left winger.

Karl the Occupy supporter or Karl the “tea party founder” as you like to say?
I dunno, the two are incompatible so at best you’re pointing to an utter nutbag as your sage.
I guess that does make sense, because you’re a nutter too.

Gay Veteran

man are you consistent, too pig ignorant to understand what Karl Denninger writes.
yeah, Karl Denninger the uber-libertarian is a “nutbag” for right-wing trolls like you

Malcolm Reynolds

LMAO!! Umkay. Occutards are libertarian now! I must’ve been fooled by all the communism. Like I said, utterly incompatible.

Sooner or later you’re gonna have to seek council from a dictionary, because these words you use, I don’ thin’ they mean whachu thin’ they mean. Unless you’re just too mediocre

Gay Veteran

what, you don’t think any of the Occupy movement were libertarian? and you know this how? by pulling it out your a**

Malcolm Reynolds

Like I said, I must’ve been fooled by all the communism in THEIR videos.

Gay Veteran

oh yes, Occupy was such a monolithic organization, NOT

Malcolm Reynolds

I’m sorry, say what.
Individuals posting their little advocacy videos on youtube and everywhere else you can find them, including news sites and that
I’m the 99% website, requires a monolithic organization?
You’re not very familiar with technology are you?

Gay Veteran

how many Occupy people posted youtube videos? how many people participated in Occupy?
and AGAIN, what did YOU do besides sit on your a**?

Malcolm Reynolds

Even for you, that response claims new levels of stupid. …and that’s saying something.
You’re telling me I had to catalogue every occutard video out there to recall my observations at a later date?
Really?

Gay Veteran

hey jacka**, you’re the one smearing an entire group of people.
and AGAIN, what did YOU do besides sit on your fat a**?

Gay Veteran

once again what did YOU do besides sit on your a**?

Malcolm Reynolds

I’m sorry, I answered that. Did you not understand it?
I said, I don’t do anything according to what you believe fighting TPTB is.

Gay Veteran

shorter version: I sat on my a**

Gay Veteran

you like to mock the Occupy movement, so what have you done to fight back against TPTB? right, sitting on your fat a** doing nothing

Malcolm Reynolds

So you think the filthy squatters, rapists, murderers, cop car crappers and terrorists (all verified by actual news stories) were fighting back against TPTB? Is that what you consider fighting back?
Then no, I’m not fighting back.

Gay Veteran

you a f-ing moron, like anything more than a tiny minority in Occupy ware “rapists, murderers, cop car crappers and terrorists”

once again what did YOU do besides sit on your a**?

Malcolm Reynolds

Nah, I’m pretty sure I’ve WELL established you’re the moron here.
Don’t you have someone’s table to wipe off?

Gay Veteran

we’ve established that you like to smear people who fought back against TPTB.
but that’s ok, keep on sitting on your a** and let your betters do the heavy lifting

Gay Veteran

what did the Tea Party do? huh? protest for 2 or 3 hours then went home.
you know you’re effectively protesting against TPTB when the police are unleashed on you.
pull your head out of your a**, you POS

Malcolm Reynolds

LOL, I think you’re getting spittle on the monitor schmuck.

Malcolm Reynolds

Totally a mouth breathing leftist. No moron, the occutards squatted on property, discredited themselves and had the cops unleashed on them because they’re a cabal of scumbags and then went home.

The Tea Party held a MASSIVE protest (legally BTW) and then has had a town hall or two directly confronting the dolts in congress (Also very legally, BTW). But I’m sure you have no clue about that tho. And then there was the 2010 elections.

Yea, clearly it’s you that needs to pull whatever you have shoved up there, out of your a$$ you stupid POS.

Malcolm Reynolds

Sorry dude, you simply haven’t the capacity, the knowledge or frankly the history. Just give it up and go cry on your boyfriend’s shoulder.

Malcolm Reynolds

You’re not very intelligent.
You’re an occutard.
You have this grudge against success indicating you have no clue what it tastes like.
Your logic is seriously lacking.
You can hold a conversation without deflecting from your MANY inadequacies.
You lie like it’s nothing.

Nope, not a lawyer. I smell correspondence course paralegal AT BEST.

Gay Veteran

yeah, get in your government bought wheelchair and join the Tea Tards. TPTB love them some tea party, so polite and after a few hours you go back home.
PATHETIC

Malcolm Reynolds

LOL. The ease with which you brush off the refutation of your lies. THAT’s pathetic.

Gay Veteran

oh lordy, the tea tards had a “town hall”, Oh I bet TPTB were quaking in their boots

Malcolm Reynolds

“a” town hall??
Ya, LOL you’re one dumb, uniformed POS.

Gay Veteran

there you go smearing people again, that’s what you do best.
AND WHAT DID YOU DO BESIDES SIT ON YOUR FAT A**?

Malcolm Reynolds

here, lemme help you with that definition since you apparently don’t know what it means.

smear
— n a slanderous attack

So, nah. no smears.

Gay Veteran

guess Gerald Celente is another “nutbag”, eh

Malcolm Reynolds

Ahh, the ol change the subject and cite something I never said tactic. NUTBAG!

Gay Veteran

hey, using your “logic”, then if Karl Denninger is a “nutbag” then so is Gerald Celente.
as if you’re intelligent enough to understand either one

Malcolm Reynolds

Don’t put word in my mouth, nutbag. You changed the subject and brought up Celente.

Gay Veteran

I read Denninger every day, way too libertarian for my tastes but he excellent analysis of the economy and finance.
Easy for you to sit on your fat a** and carp.

Gay Veteran

today on Denninger: no-knock raids, and unemployment.
too bad you’re too much of an ideologue to read it

Gay Veteran

Celente is another intelligent person you can’t understand

Gay Veteran

seems like you’re fixated on things “hard”

Malcolm Reynolds

Mostly your granite noggin’.
No, I’m not makin’ out with you under the bleachers sodomite.

Gay Veteran

makin’ out with you? oh lordy, I just threw up

Malcolm Reynolds

and yet, I have 14 responses from you over the last hour.

Gay Veteran

indeed, I just got around to reading your horse droppings

Malcolm Reynolds

Meh. Well you are aroused by droppings, huh sodomite.

Gay Veteran

wow, more right-wing projection

Malcolm Reynolds

Now you’re not gay. Holy crap, you’re the Shmoo.

Gay Veteran

yawn, the troll bores me

Gay Veteran

awwwww, your use of the term “sodomite” hurts my wittle feelings. LOL

Malcolm Reynolds

You’re a lefty, you have no feelings.
true story.

Gay Veteran

oh noez! I’m a “lefty”

Malcolm Reynolds

Good to know you admit to lying every other time you said you weren’t. That’s a start.

Gay Veteran

so it’s true, sarcasm IS wasted on some people

Malcolm Reynolds

and skin is wasted on others.

Mike Smithy

Don’t rule out the possibility of a false flag event as an excuse. Once the banksters have all of their pieces in place, you can expect a manufactured crisis as the catalyst. It stands to reason that the banksters must deflect culpability. Otherwise, they realize that the peasants with the pitchforks will come calling.

Drud

Several points I would like to make Adrian: first, the downturn or collapse is not a single event. Rome was in decline for centuries. We have been trained to believe, through movies mainly, that a societal collapse is an instantaneous process and that is simply not the case. In reality, we have been in a collapse for decades. Economic fundamentals have eroded and left only illusion. Second, the reason this can’t and won’t “turn around” is simple math. Put simplest, we simply cannot spend more than we make forever, but that only is a small piece of the puzzle. The most fundamental problem is simply using a debt-based fiat currency system. This type of currency works only in a world of continual growth. Well, continual growth is not possible on a finite planet. So, eventually every nation that has ever used such a currency eventually must face this reality. The US is no different. Simply put, we are coming to the end of a long cycle (every 80-100 years) that has recurred throughout history. No one has ever faced two of them as an able-bodied adult, so no one knows quite what it is like. Growth cycles must end and then begin again, it is simply a fact of human society. The difference this time around however, is technology. The last time the US came to the end of such a cycle, cars and planes were in their infancy, as were electric grids, and no one had even heard the term computer. Even the recent collapse of a complex society (the Soviet Union in the late 80’s) was completely different. There internet barely existed, no drones, very very few cell phones, and money was still mostly in the form of cash and not electronic signals like today. So, yes, we can see that a collapse is coming, but no on knows exactly how it will play out.

Adrian

Yes I actually agree with about everything you said. No doubt we are in decline, my point was just to counter the claim on the post that this specific downturn meant the beginning of the end. Like you said, we can’t know that. Chris Hedges is of the same opinion as us, which is funny that others here bash him and yet have never heard of him. Check him out if you haven’t done so.

Rene Girrard

Hey, while you still can….
Pour a can of fruit cocktail in the blender. Then add half a can off Mandarin oranges. Mix it up real good and then add about 8 ice cubes till they are all crushed up real good. Oh man, so good. Thank you very much.

Malcolm Reynolds

No yogurt? With the syrup or sans syrup? Sounds delicious.

goldminer

You forgot RUM! Yarrrr!

Daystrom2012

Revelation 6:5-6 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come
and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had
a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of
wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

WVBORN56

We know that the church has been promised we will not face the wrath of God. The church is long gone by the time this verse comes into play. And if we can see its nearness then how much closer are we to going to our real home! Maranatha! Time to place your trust and faith in Jesus folks. Time is short. John 3:16 makes it very simple. Believe in the one who can make you clean before a Holy God.

jonno

Here come the bible freaks again.

FirstGarden

Oh stop. Diversity, remember?

Mondobeyondo

Quick check on some financial related stuff, and other stuff such as:

– US Dollar Index stands at 81.14.
A decent indicator but certainly not definitive. It just means things are happily collapsing along. The dollar index means there are more dollars floating around. Exactly like the stock market.

– Baltic Dry Index: Not good. It’s almost as bad as a Hollywood horror movie. Almost.

– Currencies around the world: Keep in mind, most third world economies are in bad shape. Don’t let their “prosperity” fool you. They may have cellphones, but they lack toilets. If they start to fall – we all fall.

“May you live in interesting times”…

Mondobeyondo

This is what’s going to happen when our Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security obligations come due.

(Don’t worry, it’s not that Tsar Bomba video again. It’s not THAT bad. Really, it isn’t This blast is only 15 megatons.)

Don’t get too excited. The crash hasn’t happened until it happens. Stocks could still roar higher. Gold/silver are still at comical valuations.

Quagmeyer

This is gonna be awesome! We can finally slow down and return to simpler times!

Mondobeyondo

If you aren’t killed first. Be careful

Eric Quintero

I hope you guys have some gas masks.

dp

And the Wall Street peddlers still say it’s a great time to buy. Fool us three times, don’t expect to do it again to us. I can hear the screech of the breaks now.

bigskyman

Where I live in Montana, The economy was in the tank by 2009. Then our salvation appeared in the North Dakota oil fields. Many men I knew went for work and now have wife, kids and home here while they spend their life working away to pay the bills. You can make $30 an hour there and $14 to $15 an hour here for the same type of job. I almost went but promised my wife I would not. I saw what happened to the families whose dad was gone. Many marriages struggling because dad is gone all the time. Now I am running my own landscaping and maintenance business and finding a way to make ends meet here. If it was not for North Dakota our local economy would have dropped off the cliff. A lot of money is coming back into the local economy just like the Mexicans sending their money home to the wife and kids. Its spent here and local business are prospering. the same with our government. Money flows into areas of the country that would completely collapse if that regular check did not come by clockwork. When and if we have a collapse through a currency devaluation or something stops that regular life support to the economy the patient will die.

SpunkyBunks

Once the oil executives have bled North Dakota dry (very soon), they’ll move on and leave North Dakota/Montana with an even bigger financial/environmental disaster than what you had to begin with.

It’s all about exploiting the next sucker while pocketing the profits in the Caymans.

Mondobeyondo

Some of you have been through the meat grinder.
Some of you, through the woodchipper.
Some of you, both.

It is beyond brutal. To describe it – well…. that’s very hard to describe. Suffice it to say, you do NOT want to go through it.

Am I being melodramatic? Nope. Not at all.
Your world will be turned upside down. Your friends will leave you. That’s assuming you have any friends who are still left. Oh, I know the ones. The ones who aren’t bent over playing “Angry Birds” on their cell phones.

Let me tell you something. You’re about to see some “Angry Birds”, all right. Young men and women, with a chip on their shoulders, with nothing else to lose.

Look. Out.

Eric Quintero

Im one of them. Veteran, too. There are many more that will join my ranks soon once they get out into the real world. Once they get away from Gov housing and Gov paychecks.

I feel as though this was almost by design. Go into two wars, train a bunch of warriors, then collapse the economy, causing civil unrest and internal warfare.

Speaking philosophically here, the Marine Corps, I feel is an ins

Mondobeyondo

Am I concerned? Am I worried about where this country is headed? You better believe I am.

You see, I grew up in the United States of America. And I’m seeing all this play out, in the United States of America.

Where we are headed?
It’s not a good place. And that’s all I will say about that.

Yes, I’m scared. I hope things work out for the best.

db

first off I agree with most here, it is coming, and coming soon. this week, next week what’s the difference. there is one problem I fail to see anyone address here. and that would be the quality of the American. 2008 was nothing compared to 1929, and I believe 1929 will be nothing compared to 2014 for one reason. the sheeple that we live amongst, ourselves included, are so weak, spoiled, lazy… that we cannot even compare ourselves to the 6th to 8th grade level educated grandparents of our time. there were traditions that were past on, that we have lost, and for most of us, it is to late to ask now. it is not easy to learn after shtf, there is always a curve. even preppers may have food stocks, or seeds and of course ammo, but really long term? do we have animals that aren’t genetically designed to live and grow for more than a few years? seeds that will grow in our climate without gasoline running our rototiller, friends close to us that can help us keep watch at night? and keep watch from what… looters, the desperate fathers, our own military that we all want to bring back home? I don’t know what is ahead, or how soon, all I know is I want more time. no one in the right mind can be looking forward to this. there will be a reset, but the economic portion will be the easiest part. good luck all, at least your thinking.

Hello MS one question why does Silver outperform Gold in times of crisis?? I know silver is in short supply, is an industrial metal, at least that’s what experts keep saying, but why does it outperform gold?? Thanks.

Mondobeyondo

Silver outperforms gold for exactly the reasons you mentioned.

Gold is a more valuable metal, but silver is used more in industry.

AB

the point is – Will the industrial production not go down during financial fiat madness, so how can it keep outperforming, will the deman for silver not go down?

Mike Smithy

The main reason is due to the lower denominational value. If fiat were no longer accepted and/or available, and I wanted to buy a loaf of bread, I would prefer to present the baker with an ounce of silver verses an ounce of gold. I.E. A perceived value of $20 verses $1250.

XSANDIEGOCA

When the 5 Heavy Hitters quoted in this article line up in agreement, everyone better pay attention. The chickens are coming home to roost. We do not have a manufacturing base to weather the downturn. The consumer is tapped out. We have outsourced our economy. Now, we shall pay the price of that folly. How did we get here? I quote from Pat Buchanan’s brilliant column this week about how the GOP lost Middle America which also describes our impending national tragedy perfectly.
——————————————————————
“To understand why and how the Republican Party lost Middle America, and faces demographic death, we need to go back to Bush I.

At the Cold War’s end, the GOP reached a fork in the road. The determination of Middle Americans to preserve the country they grew up in, suddenly collided with the profit motive of Corporate America.

The Fortune 500 wanted to close factories in the USA and ship production abroad — where unions did not exist, regulations were light, taxes were low, and wages were a fraction of what they were here in America.

Corporate America was going global and wanted to be rid of its American work force, the best paid on earth, and replace it with cheap foreign labor.

While manufacturing sought to move production abroad, hotels, motels, bars, restaurants, farms and construction companies that could not move abroad also wanted to replace their expensive American workers.

Thanks to the Republican Party, Corporate America got it all.”
——————————————————————-Ponder that as our so called leadership flogs comprehensive immigration reform! Here in California, we are experiencing severe drought and are running out of water. If past is prologue, towns in the Central Valley will soon see unemployment rates of 40% and agricultural products will soar in price as water is cut off. Crime rates will also soar as our Gasterarbeiten loot valley farms for anything salable. The Central Valley is where much of America’s foodstuffs are grown. Just to keep the pot at a boil, we have Obama Care! Bernacke engaged in the greatest Pump and Dump of all time. He has timed his exit perfectly. If you think Yellen looks like the proverbial Deer in the Headlights, you are right.

Mondobeyondo

Our focus is so myopic. The U.S. is like, “Keep cooking more burgers! The world loves Big Macs! And fries too!”

Meanwhile the rest of the world has moved on to sushi.

FirstGarden

I like Buchanan. And I totally agree about Corporate America gutting out our manuf base in the high-pitched frenzy of Hyper-Capitalism. (I believe in the principles of good, sound Capitalism, not this sick, runaway truck of unbridled greed and cronyism.)

Hey, I’m not a left-winger, yet I totally agree. How do you like those bananas?

XSANDIEGOCA

Glad to have you aboard!

Drud

And there are so many other heavy hitters that are not included, really too many to list and I don’t feel like listing. The one person I try to bring up as often as possible is Dmitry Orlov. He has seen collapse first hand (grew up in Russia, moved to the US in the mid-80’s, but visited several times during and after the collapse of the Soviet Union) and has an analytic mind (he is an engineer) and is an excellent writer (although he can get a little dreary, he is Russian-born after all). In predicting the future, it is always best to look at the past and the collapse of the Soviet Union is closest, I believe, to what is coming for the US.

Mondobeyondo

There was a TV commercial several years ago – may have been for an auto insurance company, I can’t remember. But it goes like this:

“I don’t have any car payments.. I don’t have any…”
[Woman screams]
[sound of screeching tires, then a crash]

That’s what it’s going to be like.

Mondobeyondo

If you’re wondering “Are we gonna make it?”

Yes, we will. Some of us, anyway. Not everyone.
Depends on how solid your foundation is.
Build your house on a solid rock, and it will stand.
Build it on quicksand – you’re sunk immediately.

But anyway –

Am I scared? You better believe it. I’m terrified.
Our entire financial system has been built by Federal Reserve LLC – and it’s about to sink into the moat. (Crocodiles are extra.)

Malcolm Reynolds

Nu uh, they provide the crocodiles free of charge.

FirstGarden

That’s not too far a stretch. It’s been quite reptilian all along..

Karen

Let it all crash and burn… Like the Phenix Rising. From the ashes of the old comes a new beginning, this old life style will crash the land of the vain and selfish and home of the money hounds will end.

St. Ferd III

The geniuses and elite will respond with QE 97 and the MSM will report that all is well. According to all the quacks I hear on CNBC and Bloomturd the ‘fundamentals are strong’, corp ‘earnings growing’, PEs are at ‘historical averages'; and China’s fake GDP #’s will still grow at ‘a healthy rate’…..ergo there is no housing/financial market/currency/bond bubble[s]. Rose petals everywhere. Dancing and laughing. What coming crisis ?

Mondobeyondo

If you want the truth as to what’s out there, DO NOT listen to ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CNN, etc. etc.

Right you are! Russia Today and Zero Hedge are terrific sources of information. Nevertheless, I find it sad that the U.S. Constitution affords special protections to the corrupt modern day media whores who can’t report the news in an honest way. For the most part, American journalism is dead.

Quagmeyer

They can try but I’m armed to my teeth. Everyone should have been buying guns/ammo a long time ago. Also have a survival plan with other like-minded folks.

DJohn1

Line item veto! Just like described by Romney only by a corrupt administration of Demoncrats. That is what we are in for.
Jews that I have known have one thing in common. Most have skill levels way above the average American person and know how to sell those skills to the world. This is taught at home. They are taught this way because over the last 2000+ years they have gone through many economic storms and survived, even against tremendous odds.
Many of our every day things that we use all the time came from this culture by enterprising individuals. There is a list somewhere of just what they have contributed to our current marketplace that most of us considered “American”.
I say welcome them with open arms. We have nothing to lose and a lot to gain by allowing Jewish People to restart here.
The problem I see is a big one. What has to happen is we (everyone) have to rebuild America into the best economy on the planet. That will take willing hands and a lot of God-fearing people.
What have we done wrong in the last 50 plus years? Quite a lot has gone wrong!
The first thing is to re-establish the family as the economic base of this country. And that means getting rid of all those congressional representatives that have done just the opposite. There is a marriage penalty and it was put there by Congress. So there are a lot of bastards out there amongst us that have never known a father in the home. And there morales surely show it.
What has to change is the entire economic base of something for nothing in our basic life.
We have to act more like the Swiss in our banking. The idea is not to go to war with anyone. The idea is to make this the place all those rich folk want to live in. We have to leave center stage and center target for the world. And that is going to take leadership like we have never had before.
Rather I see us as latter-day British Empire builders. It didn’t work for them, and it certainly doesn’t really work for us. We have to go neutral and not try to change the world.
Between military spending and our “intelligence” community, and our Foreign Aid program we are bleeding to death. This is one big country and it has taken years to get in this shape and I foresee it will take years to quite the bleeding and go back to being an independent nation.
IF we could take all that money and pay off the national debt, then that would go along way to bringing our country back to some level of sanity.
No other country in the world allows the Chinese and India such a level of stealing our money out from under us with currency rules like we have.
I got news for both sets of thieves. If the money you are stealing has no value then what is the purpose behind gaining it?
The only path that makes any sense at all is to rebuild the economy from the ground up and gradually take over building our own goods in our own country and paying people to do so. That is going to take a lot of belt tightening everywhere.
The foreign market controls this country right now. And that is not good.
Start with wages. We have 47 million people on welfare? Put them all to work for the money they make on the dole. I suggest we have a bunch of enormous projects that need cheap help to get done.
Start with making people work for what they get now for free.
We need to completely overhaul the parasite classes of this country. I refer to bankers, lawyers, and a whole bunch of people getting money for doing absolutely nothing in return except handle the bureaucratic mess we have as law.
Yes, they are truly Exploiting and Stealing money legally. And they are openly doing this every day.
We have a system of Income Tax. When I was in my 20s, we legally got back over a $1,000 a year for owning a home. You have to take the currency and define it. That was $10,000 in our current currency. So what has changed? The rules have changed by which we live and that is the Congress that has changed those rules. I always used a tax service to make sure everything I got back was legal. That was necessary because the law is confusing at best. It is much better to error on the side of law than to try to get more than you are entitled to.
The problem is Congress sneaked about and changed the rules.
Again and again you have the same problem. Congress sneaked in and changed the rules so the average person got screwed. Well it is coming back and the reaction is going to get them unelected very soon.

FirstGarden

I think you have some good ideas. As a Conservative Indie Treehugger, I agree.
I realize I will sound pessimistic here, but America is done for – Spiritually, morally. She has lost her will to fight, and all the Wall Street & G o v t cronies have descended on her like a pack of wolves.

You can not legislate morality, either. For what one congress does, the next undoes, as they dance to the tune of the Piper, and he who pays the Piper calls the tune.
(Think mass media mesmerism.)

After a lifetime of careful thought, it is my view that the ONLY HOPE for our once great nation (whom we love and long for to return), is that America get on her knees and return to THE ONE who made her Great in the first place.
Nothing short of a third Great Awakening will accomplish this — a national, spiritual Revival at the grass roots level.

“Why didn’t anybody warn us a financial crisis was coming?” ~ most Americans the day after said financial crisis blows up.

ian

2014 will pass and nothing will happen and these
predictions will continue unabated until the next Republican capitalist
crony comes into office and all of this global economic collapse talk
will halt as the next right wing puppet is put into office and the anti
obama nuts will then begin calling you a traitor if you dare speak of
economic hardship.. This forecast is a gaurantee. Mark my words.

people will continue living in mcmansions, paying 100 dollars for a super bowl ticket, staying in posh hotels around the globe, etc…etc….

Anonymous

I recently watched “Inequality for all” and I think it explained our economy quite well.

Rufus T Firefly

In crisis there is opportunity for the intelligent person

bert

it’s called a correction purposefully induced by the “taper”!! when yellen opens up the spigot the market will go back up and she will be hailed as a hero just like the two puppets before her. economic collapse is a few years away when they allow the ruskie/sino alliance to nuke us. when will you people ever wake up?

FirstGarden

“It’s a hard rain gonna fall.”
– Bob Dylan

Adrian

Well, today it looks like things have turned around…

Bonnie Moore

Just read a story elsewhere about the 4 bankers that committed suicide this week, and the reason stated was “long working hours.” Hmmm….

Adrian

I bet the pay was great…

FirstGarden

Maybe their bonuses “for a job well done” were shy a couple million.

FirstGarden

I just turned 60, and I only wish you were right. I guess I just know too much about Life’s laws of Sowing & reaping, Cause and Effect. It certainly IS coming – that is, the end of the greatest Ponzi scheme in all human history.

I see it coming far more imminently. How long can you tread water? How long can you print money? How long can hyper-speculation & fiscal insanity sail up to the stars, before it finally comes crashing down in a Great Crushing Crescendo?

The late Larry Burkett, in his book, “The Coming Economic Earthquake”, predicted so much of this in the late 80s, including the warning that Nat’l debt would reach 20 Trillion, if our sick monetary policies didn’t change.

Well, he, and a few others were early in their predictions. And they were men of honor & character, not hucksters just selling books.

We are long overdue for a monstrous “correction.” I think it’s soon. I hope I’m wrong and you’re right.

M miller

Better yet……..let us both hope that we are both wrong……

americalsgt

Because I feel asleep int Stewart M. Lee’s economic class, I need to ask a question. I have a bit of money (aka all I have) in a 401k in the market. I have a get of of Dodge point of the DJA at 14,500. But what do I do with it to prevent the IRS from taking their cut right off the bat. My concern is not to make money at that point, I just don’t want to keep what I have and not repeat the losses at the dot com hit. I’m too old to let it ride.

bert

just get out of your 401k period and pay the taxes before paul ryan and larry fink come for it. and they ARE coming for it.

http://PeterPalms.com/banking Peter Palms

Will the dollar continue to collapse? Short answer: It all
depends on one’s definition of “collapse.” If collapse means that the dollar
will be completely abandoned as a major international-exchange currency, then I
would agree that it probably will not collapse in the next decade. If collapse
means that the dollar will accelerate its present decline in purchasing power
to the point where it becomes useless as a vehicle for savings and long-term
investment, then the collapse already has begun. Furthermore, it appears to be
inevitable, considering the fact that there are no substantial changes in US
monetary policy currently in the works and this will be the fourth collapse of
the Central Bank of the United States
and this time most likely accompanied by default on its debt.

Jinx

Birds of feather

2Gary2

I disagree with her politics, however, she does have some good info such as who will survive the collapse etc.

FounderChurch

All Immigration Of Every Sort Is Nothing More Than Trafficking Slave Labor

The highest priority for America is to get more children born to existing citizens, NOT to bring more unschooled, illiterate, uncultured, and unskilled alien immigrants into this country, whether they are legal or illegal, immigration has never been good for this country.

Immigration has historically been tolerated, and special interests have made money exploiting cheap slave labor, whether Black, White, Brown or Asian, but no immigration has ever been good for the existing population of America, and that includes our citizens marrying foreigners, and bringing them and their families into the country as well.

But how can we fix anything when every church and every Conservative favors, and practices, the mass killing of their own and their citizen neighbors children by the use of murderous, poisonous, demonic, Birth Control Methods of all sorts, including the Catholic favorite, “The Rhythm Method,” and their so-called “Natural” Birth Control, and “Natural” Family Planning.

These Catholic so-called “Natural” Methods of killing children are just as murderous as Protestant Condoms and Pills. So who is the Pope kidding with his phony Encyclical misnamed Humanae Vitae?

And the Pro-Life movement, which is not pro-life at all, but rather anti-death, including being against the Death Penalty, is no help either with their myopic obsession with Abortion, which is just a bunch of Democrat Heathens killing their kids. Like we need more Democrat Heathen children, except to fill up our prisons and fatten our Welfare Rolls?

So, you see things like articles by so-called Pro-Life, so-called Conservative Phyllis Schlafly only scratches the surface of our problems, and does not even address the most important of them.

Let’s get our heads screwed on straight before we start thinking anything about what America needs.

FounderChurch is a non-profit public interest tax deductible religious organization. Volunteer, donate, or bequeath your support to further the causes and ministerial work of these non-denominational teachings that are dedicated to serving God and Country.

A Google search of “FounderChurch” (one word) will bring up 3000 hits representing some of our teachings. Nothing is perfect, and we are not, but at core, be assured, we advocate on behalf of Godly families, children, and life more abundantly, worldwide.

FACT: The Best and Brightest of our young couples are averaging 1.1 children average, when under the best circumstances, it takes 2.2 children for any human population just to barely reproduce themselves. This rate represents national suicide, and a genocidal holocaust of our people and nation, which is designed to serve certain narrow Special Interests that have an agenda based on hate for America. Thank You for visiting this teaching. Contact: FounderChurch@Gmail.Com

marsav

historically speaking, human survival rate through economic collapse through out our existance is 100%. doesnt mean people wont suffer when the next collapse happens, but the majority of people will survive and build up again when the smoke clears. so prepare for the worst and hope for the best! build up that emergency budget to help you through this and focus on what you can control.

Anon

Oh come on ! Everything is going to be fine as soon as we all get our free Blue Cross.

FounderChurch

Money, Money, Money, and Credit, and all such paper and digital negotiable instruments are NEVER the real problem for any individual or any society.

These “MEDIUMS OF EXCHANGE” are just that, nothing more. They are not real, and at root do not represent anything real, or necessarily anything of value.

So undue worrying about them, or about their gaining or losing value, takes our eye off the real ball, composed of real things that have real value.

This is why two countries that are just two of many such examples, have become great they being totally destroyed, Germany and Japan. Both of these countries lost EVERYTHING. There currency overnight became worthless, all their homes and factories, road, railroad, planes,elctric power grids, and you name it, were totally destroyed. They were left naked, homeless, and hopeless, and then this miracle happened, and almost overnight they became the richest, most powerful nations on earth.

How could this possibly happen? No, America did not give them much of anything, that is a gratuitous myth of self congratulation. What happened was they were relieved of all of the garbage of their society. All institutions were swept away, and everyone had a fresh start in front of the clean slate. Nothing on earth is more powerful than that.

Slavery in Egypt was the best thing that ever happened to the Israelites, and the holocaust was the next best thing. Look at Israel today and thank the holocaust.

What truly matters and is of truly of lasting value is LIFE ITSELF, SKILLS, ATTITUDE, (humility) HARD WORK, FAMILY, GOD, (God’s Word) TRADITION, CULTURE, LANGUAGE, CHILDREN, AND SO FORTH.

Everything else is flotsam, and jetsam.

Money is not only the ROOT OF ALL EVIL, it is also the seeds of our own and our societies destruction.

Avril111

My Uncle Zachary recently got a 9
month old Mercedes-Benz CL-Class CL63 AMG only from working off a home pc… go
now B­u­z­z­3­2­.­ℂ­o­m

Michael Wabel

Great blog post. I have to create a blog for a class, and I have chosen to write about the market crash. I have to keep tabs on a blog and demonstrate how I will promote my blog. I feel connecting to other blogs like this one will help promote my space. Enjoy your articles.